Davies Canyon - track notes

Trips

• 26/12/2002 - photos

Davies Canyon lies in Sally Camp Creek upstream from its junction from Whalania Creek. It is more of a bushwalk with abseiling, through an impressive gorge. Like most of the Kanangra canyons, route finding often involves moving about on scree slopes above large drops.

Park at the locked gate at the start of the fire trail between King Pin and Queen Pin (MGA287400) on the Kanangra Road. Walk along the fire trail to Thurat Trig. Head down Thurat Ridge. There is a track that follows the ridge but it is difficult to pick up. At about MGA330417 head N then NW down the spur to reach Sally Camp Creek. The canyon starts shortly after.

Alternatively you can walk in from the Whalania Fire Road and Nioka Ridge.

A few hundred metres after the canyon begins you reach the first abseil. We abseiled 50m down the right hand side of the falls, from an exposed narrow nose of rock that juts out. This can be done in two 25m stages if desired. Alternatively there were also slings around a tree on a slope to the left side of the falls. This looked slightly longer, and you were likely to end up in a pool.

About 250m further on you reach the second abseil. We abseiled 50m from a tree to the left of the falls, into a shallow pool.

The next main drop we scrambled down ledges, passing packs, to the right of the top of the chute and around to a large open platform. We abseiled 20m from slings around a tree to a very slippery rock and narrow ledge. A tricky 2m climb down followed. Finally a 15m drop from dodgy bolts to a pool which we had to then swim across.

Then followed some creek walking to a smaller fall (about 10m). We scrambled along a dirt bank to the right and down a slope. A short drop at the bottom required a 2m abseil into knee deep water.

Some more creek walking got us to another small fall. Scrambling along a steep dirt slope to the right brought us to an exposed set of slings above a 15m drop, which we abseiled.

After another 100m walking we reached the next main drop. We abseiled 20m from slings to the left of the falls to a small ledge. Then 50m into a pool. Traverse left (facing downstream) if you want to avoid a swim.

The creek then drops into a narrow slot. We scrambled along a slightly exposed dirt bank as the creek dropped away below us. Finally we reached a set of slings above a 50m drop onto slippery ledges and abseiled. It is probably possible to swim and abseil down the creek itself if desired.

We scrambled down a few ledges on the left side, and then crossed over as we reached another small set of falls. We scrambled right along a dirt bank, and put a rope around a tree for a 10m abseil as the scrambling became a bit exposed.

Another few hundred metres of walking brought us to the Whalania Ck junction.

Walk up Mt Paralyser (logbook at summit), back along Thurat Ridge and follow the fire trail back to the car. Mt Paralyser is extremely steep, particularly between the 800m-1100m contours where much of the walking is at a gradient of nearly 1:1. It may be easier to contour around to the northern buttress once you reach a reasonable height.